Tag Archives: detroit homes

This east side house in Detroit is definitely for sale. But after months and months on the market and a few price drops, the homeowner isn’t after your money.

“It’s a real listing,” said realtor Larry Else. “My client is overseas and he told me he would be willing to trade the properly for an iPhone 6.

“It sounds to me like he wants the (iPhone 6+) version, but I think he’s willing to negotiate.”

The seller will even swap the house for a 32-gigabyte iPad.

The three-bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom brick colonial is on Britain and Lainge and is a fixer-upper.

But it has it’s “gems” as Zillow.com mentions, including a finished basement.

There is also a plush garden, and city views from the upper deck where a chair sits outside.

The bungalow was listed for $5,000 then dropped to $3,000, or the latest and greatest in Apple technology.

“It needs to be torn down,” said Ameir Walker.

Not everyone feels that way.

“I work on houses, so I would love to have it for that,” said Jamal Kemp. “It doesn’t take a lot of money to fix these houses back up. I would (be willing to buy it).”

There is one tiny little catch, the buyer will have to pay the back taxes $6,000 and counting, but like most things in life, that too is negotiable.

Is there anyway someone with the new iPhone can sweeten the deal, like you pay some of the back taxes and they throw in some headphones maybe a screen protector?

“We’d be willing to do a deal,” Else said. “They would be able to get it on quick claim but eventually they would have to play the back taxes. He might be willing to take anything maybe an Android, I don’t know, maybe an Android?”

This deal won’t last forever – the realtor says this house will stay on the market until Wayne County forecloses on the property which could happen in the next year.

One of every five Detroit properties in Detroit are in the process of foreclosure under an unprecedented effort by Wayne County to take possession of every property that is three or more years behind in taxes.

Wayne County is beginning to notify an unprecedented 80,000 property owners – about 70,000 of them in Detroit – that they are on the verge of losing their property to foreclosure because of delinquent taxes.

By comparison, the county began the foreclosure process on 42,000 properties in 2013 and 56,000 properties this year.

The treasurer’s office is targeting every property owner who is at least three years behind on taxes as Detroit embarks on an aggressive plan to eliminate blight and recover lost revenue under Mayor Mike Duggan.

“We have decided to foreclose on everything,” Chief Deputy Treasurer David Szymanski told me. “In 2008 and 2009, finances were so tight that people had to decide between eating and paying taxes in Detroit.”

But, Szymanski said, “The economy has improved.”

The treasurer’s office said it’s important to begin the foreclosure process because it often prompts people to pay their bills. It’s also important because homeowners are eligible for assistance under the Step Forward Program, but not until the legal process has begun.

“If someone can’t pay their taxes, they really shouldn’t own a home,” Szymanski said, adding that the county offers payment plans. “We have a culture that has grown to expect that taxes are optional.”

The county began sending out crews to knock on doors and erect foreclosure signs on the affected properties. The county also is notifying property owners by regular and registered mail.

Szymanski said the treasurer’s office is sensitive to the struggles of residents but said it’s critical that the county recover delinquent taxes to pay for vital services such as police and fire protection.

We all know how shitty the housing market is doing and that foreclosure rates are off the charts, and if you want to exactly how many foreclosures there are within a specific metro Detroit zip code click HERE.